Date sent:      	Sat, 30 Oct 1999 23:18:28 -0400
Subject:        	Metal machismo

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000647321007942&rtmo=wQ0KsMwb&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/10/19/bmdef19.html

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ISSUE 1607 
Tuesday 19 October 1999
Electronic Telegraph

Metal machismo

Simon Briggs braves a Def Leppard concert at Wembley Arena

In this age of enlightenment, it's not often that you hear rock singers
coming out with lyrics such as "I give you... women! (Women!) / Lots of
pretty women (yeah!)." Not with a straight face, anyway. But Def Leppard
wouldn't know the meaning of post-modern irony if it sneaked up and
pinched their leather-clad backsides.

Their story is that of four working-class Sheffield boys who made it big -
very big - with one meticulously produced album. Hysteria was released in
1987 and has since sold 16 million around the world. It has also made Def
Leppard the eighth British act to shift 10 million copies of a single
record in the US, putting them with a list of rather more celebrated names
that includes the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Elton John, George Michael, Eric
Clapton and the Bee Gees.

There hasn't been anything too noteworthy since, but heavy-rock fan bases
are famously loyal, and a large, vocal and eclectic crowd gathered at
Wembley Arena. At first the sonic mix was soupy - a surprise, considering
the pristine sound that Def Leppard create on their records. Their
producer in the mid-Eighties, Robert "Mutt" Lange, was rumoured to record
guitar solos one note at a time.

Fortunately, the backroom boys sorted the problem out in time for the
first of seven tracks from Hysteria, the aforementioned Women. They even
worked some kind of magic on the microphones that turned backing vocals
from a pair of grizzled guitarists into a heavenly chorus. In centre
stage, lead singer Joe Elliott performed his patented impression of a
dentist's drill, rasping wheezily in the upper registers, while Rick
Allen, the drummer who lost his left arm 15 years ago in a car crash,
pummelled a kit that included a full-scale Rank Cinema gong.

Most of the new material was unspeakable, but those seven vintage 
numbers transported everyone back to the heyday of the Leppard. Animal and
Pour Some Sugar On Me were testosterone-fuelled slices of soft- metal
hokum, greeted by a sea of raised right fists. There was an almost
poignant moment on Armageddon It, when Elliott introduced a squealing
guitar break with a gruff "C'mon Viv". On the recorded version it's "C'mon
Steve", but original guitarist Steve Clark was found dead in 1991 after
mixing alcohol with prescription painkillers.

The ensuing solo, needless to say, was a perfect replica of the one on the
album. Def Leppard's formula doesn't change for anything - political
correctness, road accidents, even death.

Touring until Saturday. Telegraph Box Office: 0870 160 7000

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